A Dakar court will next week consider whether Senegalese opposition figure Ousmane Sonko should be reinstated on the electoral roll, a point on which his candidacy for the 2024 presidential race depends, a judicial source said Tuesday.

Sonko was struck off the electoral roll after being sentenced in June to two years’ imprisonment for morally corrupting a young person.

He has been at the centre of a stand-off with the state that has lasted more than two years and sparked several episodes of deadly unrest.

Last month the West African nation’s top court overturned a regional ruling handed down in October, which had put Sonko back in the running for the presidential election.

The Supreme Court decided then that the question of whether Sonko should be restored to the electoral roll should go back to the lower court in Dakar.

This “special” hearing has been set for the morning of December 12, according to a statement from the Court of Appeal sent to AFP.

Sonko denounces the cases against him as machinations aimed at keeping him out of the presidential election. The government denies any manipulation of the justice system.